In my case, I think I was socially very behind. I didn't want to be around any other children, and I would get VERY upset if they came anywhere near me, or touched anything of mine. As far as other types of development (speaking, reading, writing, math, and development of general knowledge, I was probably way ahead. I entered kindergarten already reading at 1st grade level, and was in algebra in 7th grade. By high school, I was honored by the Engineering Dept. at UCLA for a volunteer project and paper on the history of television technology. With other childhood "normal" developments, such as riding a bicycle, and playing sports, I was a big failure. I finally learned to ride a bike at age 12, but that was only because I was taught the theory of inertia and countersteering. With those basics, I just got on a bike and rode it. In other words, conventional training to ride a bike did not work at all on me. You could put training wheels, run beside to help, or whatever... Forget it. It was not possible for me to do it until I understood the physics behind it.
The social behind-ness kept with me in regard to children, but I never had a problem mingling with adults. To this day, I'm afraid of children, and avoid them at any cost. On the other hand, from the time I was a toddler, I was very comfortable around older adults, and most of my friends were 70 when I was a teenager. I still don't go to parties or to any place where there isn't a purpose in being there, as I feel like a fish out of water, and get really nervous. If I have to go to a social gathering, I spend most of the time clinging to one person with whom I'm acquainted, or I'll point out a repair needed in the host location, and volunteer to fix it in order to productively kill time and to evade interaction by being "busy"...
Charles
16 Feb 2013, 11:49 am
